calibre 5: Beta testers needed

[thiago.eec]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Create bookmarks in the viewer and they will also show up in the browse annotations tool. Then you can filter on highlight/bookmarks/both.

For users, run the calibre content server and create highlights in books with the in-browser viewer and then you will be able to filter by user in the browse annotations tool.

Got it. Thanks.

[nixsee]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

@democrite you can already double click or long tap an existing highlight to show its notes and also edit it easily. As for a hovering menu when selecting text, that's a possibility, though personally I dont like the idea, but am willing to be convinced if lots of people do.

@thiago.eec, @democrite and I seem to be the only beta-testers posting here so far, and we're unanimously requesting a hovering menu. For me, and surely others, this feature trumps all other bugs and requests - I simply won't use it if I have to click all over the screen and use various keyboard shortcuts.

I particularly like thiago's suggestions (quoted below), which in my experience is not just how iBooks works, but also Kindle, Google Play Books and any other quality reader.

1) The menu would pop-up when you select a text.
2) Then you have the options: copy, search, highlight, note, etc.
3) If you click highlight, it give you the options for colors and notes.
4) If you click note, you can start typing right away (and the text is automatically highlighted with the standard color).

It is as smooth and seamless as possible - no keyboard shortcuts are needed as you have already used the mouse to select the text, and can then either click the highlight color or automatically start typing in the pre-selected textbox. The only real decision is whether you have to press a button to confirm/enter the note or are able to click away and it will save. I don't see why both options couldn't be offered - especially useful for the existing feature to allow for double-clicking on a highlight to edit it.

Further suggestion: include Lookup/Search Word in the pop-up context menu as well. Again, the idea is to reduce as many clicks and key presses and visits to menus as possible.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by thiago.eec

This is what it outputs:

INFO: userscript:viewer.js:24: 0

This line appears for every increment on my mouse wheel (backward or forward).

yeah zero means its pixel, so the ix does not apply.

[nixsee]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

No, the highlights (and bookmarks) are stored in three places. In the DB, inside the ebook file (which you can turn off in the viewer preferences) and in a separate settings file which is useful if you use the viewer for books not in a calibre library.

Following up from a previous suggestion I made (which you did reply to in another comment), I would really like an Export to Text option, be it to a text file or clipboard. I, and many, keep notes and references in a separate system (Evernote, Onenote, etc...) and it would be nice to export all highlights and notes to be stored and referenced there.

Here is what it looks like in Book Bazaar Reader, which is the best Windows ebook reader that I have found so far - they make it simple to export by copying to clipboard.



And after pasting from clipboard into Onenote.



No idea why the image links dont work - either from Imgur or ibb.com. Perfect opportunity to show off the copy to clipboard functionality!

Book: Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for Everyone and Nobody (Oxford World's Classics)
Author: Nietzsche, Friedrich
========================================
*** Highlight 2020/7/15
the slave. May your nobility be obedience! May your
========================================
*** Highlight 2020/7/15
shalt’ sounds more pleasing than ‘I will’. And all that is
========================================
*** Highlight 2020/7/15
highest thought you shall receive as a command from me—and it is this: the human is something that is to be overcome.
>>> Note:
asdg'asdg
========================================

[kovidgoyal]

@nixsee: you are going to be using the keyboard to type the note anyway, so i dont see what extra hardship using keyboard shortcuts imposes. in fact personally i prefer having to press four keyboard shortcuts to clicking two gui buttons, however, as i said i am open to having a selection popup menu, its just not something i am particularly keen to do the work for.

in any case sadly i fell and hurt my back rather badly so other than making the 4.21 release tomorrow, i am out of action. we can resume the discussion later.

[eschwartz]

Yay, looking forward to dropping lots of python2 packages from archlinux in the near future.

I'll have to switch my dev environment to build the py3 branch and experiment, but my suspicion is I'll want a pop-up like thiago.eec and democrite.

Hope you feel better soon.

[nixsee]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

@nixsee: you are going to be using the keyboard to type the note anyway, so i dont see what extra hardship using keyboard shortcuts imposes. in fact personally i prefer having to press four keyboard shortcuts to clicking two gui buttons, however, as i said i am open to having a selection popup menu, its just not something i am particularly keen to do the work for.

in any case sadly i fell and hurt my back rather badly so other than making the 4.21 release tomorrow, i am out of action. we can resume the discussion later.

I'm sorry to hear about your back! I hope that you are doing ok, all things considered, and will have a good recovery. I assume it is fine if we keep posting feedback here for you to catch up on when you are able.

Fair point regarding already using the keyboard to type, but it is still slower to highlight and then press a shortcut than having an automatically selected textbox ready to type in. Also, a popup menu would definitely be faster and more useful for making simple highlights - having 4 highlight colors right next to the text to click on, rather than, again, highlighting then pressing keyboard shortcut, then finding the color

Most of all, I think it just comes down to the reality that many people - me included - just don't like using keyboard shortcuts for everything. Its too much cognitive load when they all add up. I certainly live and breathe them in various applications (Microsoft Excel, for example), but surely a majority of people can't be bothered to remember them for most, if not all, applications. Sometimes its nice to just have things presented to us (especially when it is actually a faster, more pleasing way of doing it, as it is in this case). Just imagine if Calibre had no buttons or menus at all and everything was done via keyboard shortcuts or, gasp, a command line.

As always, however, its up to you as to what you'd like to spend your time on. We're very appreciative of your continual hard and generous work on this. I just hope that the work you've done to implement highlights and annotations won't be for naught - as it will likely be for me, even if some direct keyboard shortcuts are implemented. Perhaps I'm too picky, spoiled by other applications, or even just stupid, but it is the reality (and I suspect I'm not alone)

Get well soon!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by nixsee

Wonderful! I'll start giving it a test drive. I intend to keep 4.20 on my system - is there any preference for using the installed or portable version of the v5 beta?

Use the portable version. That way you can have separate configurations and you can use the 4.x version that is not a beta.

[nqk]

I think the popup menu is important for good experience, and it needs to popup near where the texts are selected, so that one doesn't have to move the finger around too much (I rarely use Calibre server on PC).

Exporting the annotations (to txt) is also recommended.

Thank you, Kovid, for your hard work.

[thiago.eec]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

yeah zero means its pixel, so the ix does not apply.

Ok. That's unfortunate. It's the same mouse I've always used. Changing my mouse config (on Windows Settings) to roll 6 lines at a time (it was 2, by default) solved the problem for the viewer, but modified the way I used to navigate on browsers. I'll probably have to use keyboard arrows for calibre, since the option is to modify all the rest.

P.S.: I hope you get better soon.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

in any case sadly i fell and hurt my back rather badly so other than making the 4.21 release tomorrow, i am out of action. we can resume the discussion later.

Take it easy mate.

BR

[democrite]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You mean the dull gray on black look?? calibre currently uses #eee I can change that to #ddd which is about as dull as I'm willing to go.

#DDD is better. I'd have to use it for a long time to judge if it is enough though it is an improvement. The reason for the gray on dark is that bright text on dark will create a halo effect, much like you see with neon light street signs, akin to a drop shadow. Text is much less sharp, more apparent in low light conditions. Thanks.

[ownedbycats]

I only skimmed this thread so I may have missed it if this was already reported.

I think I found a bug. Here's all the steps I remember making:

1. I downloaded and installed the portable version. I exited my main Calibre and opened the beta version.
2. I changed the UI font to Calibri (11pt) and restarted.
3. I opened Quick Start guide in the viewer.
4. I went to the viewer settings and enabled the toolbar.
5. I changed the viewer settings to not save bookmarks in the file itself.
6. I used the toolbar button to changed the viewer colour scheme to white. (I use dark mode in my main Calibre, and the environment variable carried over to portable version.)
7. I selected the "Highlight" button on the toolbar. I highlighted some of the text, changed its colour to pink, added a note, and saved the annotation:



8. I used the toolbar button to change viewer colour scheme to Sepia Light. The annotation disappeared.



They didn't come back when I changed the scheme back, but they did come back when I restarted.

Enhancement idea: For those who switch between schemes, perhaps an option to select an alt highlight colour for the dark modes (black and sepia dark) would be an idea. Some of them I had difficulty viewing on certain schemes. Not sure what to do about custom schemes though.

Question: I don't use embedded bookmarks. If I test some books from my main Calibre library by opening them directly in the viewer (skipping the library), will I be able to preserve any annotations by later copying the json files from viewer/annot/ over to my main Calibre's application data folder?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by nixsee

Following up from a previous suggestion I made (which you did reply to in another comment), I would really like an Export to Text option, be it to a text file or clipboard. I, and many, keep notes and references in a separate system (Evernote, Onenote, etc...) and it would be nice to export all highlights and notes to be stored and referenced there.

Here is what it looks like in Book Bazaar Reader, which is the best Windows ebook reader that I have found so far - they make it simple to export by copying to clipboard.



And after pasting from clipboard into Onenote.



No idea why the image links dont work - either from Imgur or ibb.com. Perfect opportunity to show off the copy to clipboard functionality!

Use the Attachment (paperclip) Load from URL

[Thasaidon]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

@nixsee: you are going to be using the keyboard to type the note anyway, so i dont see what extra hardship using keyboard shortcuts imposes. in fact personally i prefer having to press four keyboard shortcuts to clicking two gui buttons, however, as i said i am open to having a selection popup menu, its just not something i am particularly keen to do the work for.

in any case sadly i fell and hurt my back rather badly so other than making the 4.21 release tomorrow, i am out of action. we can resume the discussion later.

Hope you get well soon. Hopefully you can at least play with your children until you are well again.